Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 76609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 76609 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 383(@200wpm)___ 306(@250wpm)___ 255(@300wpm)
She nodded.
“I’ll think about it all, Daddy. I know this is a huge decision,” she promised.
“And you can talk to Aspen, too. But you already know that, don’t you?”
She nodded, smiling shyly.
“I like her, Daddy,” she whispered.
I smiled.
“I like her, too, baby,” I whispered back conspiratorially.
***
“Whoa, Rambo. Take a chill pill.”
I looked over at Tai, shooting daggers at him from my hunched over position.
“Fuck you.”
Tai’s eyebrows went up.
“What’s your malfunction?” He asked.
“Why are you even here. I’m the one who got the page,” I grumbled, crossing my arms over my chest and leaning back further in my chair.
“They called me, too. Remember?” He raised a brow. “We already spoke about this when I first got here.”
I ignored him, or at least tried to.
Tai was persistent, which was why I fisted my hands in my lap instead of rising to the bait that Tai was dangling in front of me.
“What’s wrong with you, D?” Downy asked, his eyes sharp.
I turned my gaze on to him.
“Nothing to do with your sister,” I muttered darkly.
Downy’s eyebrows rose, but it was Luke who chimed in this time.
“Why would it have to do with his sister?” Luke interrupted. “Are you two dating?”
I sighed, picking my hand up to pinch the bridge of my nose.
I chose to answer, though, because if I didn’t, they’d just keep bothering the hell out of me until I did.
“Yes,” I said. “Aspen and I are dating.”
“Who’s Aspen?” Luke asked.
“Downy’s sister,” I replied in exasperation. “Wasn’t that what I just said?”
Luke shrugged.
“I thought her name was Ridley,” he explained, his voice trailing off as his focus was caught by the man across the parking spot from where we’d been sitting.
We were waiting for a warrant to be issued, then we’d go serve the warrant and apprehend the suspect as well as do a thorough search of the property.
Well, they would.
I’d be there just in case one of them got hurt.
Which was very rare.
Although last time we were out I had to patch up Nico’s arm.
He’d scraped his arm on a nail, and I’d gotten to actually use some medical training.
Not that I was complaining. If I wasn’t utilized, then that was a good day, and how I wanted it to be.
“Her name is Aspen Ridley; I call her Ridley,” Downy explained when it was apparent that I wasn’t going to.
I snorted.
“Downy calls her Ridley because he’s too chicken shit to call her by her real name. Which, might I add, breaks her heart. She hates that you don’t like her,” I told him, turning to him to gauge his reaction.
“I do too like her!” He snapped.
I snorted.
“You do?”
He glared.
“What?” He asked, turning away from me. “I do.”
“Funny way to show it,” I muttered, sitting back and swinging my legs around when I saw Nico running towards us from the courthouse.
“Got it,” Nico breathed heavily, scooting into the seat beside me. “Let’s roll.”
I didn’t reply to the question I could see on Downy’s face; instead, I chose to stay silent and let him stew in his own thoughts.
But, by the time we arrived at the house that we were executing the warrant for, Downy’s thoughts were all about the job he was about to perform.
The doors opened and I half stood, eyes on the ground to avoid the equipment and feet of the other men in the truck with me.
Then I smiled when my eyes caught on the dog at our feet.
“Your dog’s eating your shoe,” I stared down at Mocha.
Downy cursed and pulled his foot away, but Mocha had still wrought some damage while no one had been paying attention.
“You’re such a bitch,” Downy growled, picking his foot up so he could examine the damage. “Anyone got some duct tape?”
A roll was produced from someone’s bag, and Downy used it to wrap his foot while Nico, then I, got out of the back.
Nico had a smile on his face when he turned to survey the house, one that quickly disappeared when he got his first look at the residence.
“This is going to be bad,” he muttered under his breath.
I couldn’t help but agree with him.
The entire damn yard was a junkyard. The place was littered with many, many cars.
And boats.
And deer stands.
And RVs.
You name it, it was there, broken down in the man’s front yard.
“This is impressive,” Luke muttered as he took his first look.
“They should be on an episode of Hoarders,” Downy mumbled. “So tired of watching that show with my wife.”
I snorted.
“Your sister makes me watch Downton Abbey and old Saved By The Bell episodes,” I informed him. “I clearly have it worse off than you.”
Downy flipped me off and moved to the front of the truck, Mocha, for once, right on his heels.
That was something that happened when Mocha realized that it was time to work.
But when it wasn’t time…let’s just say it wasn’t pretty.